Canton man turns gun into staff at Kenmore Square hotel; is arrested
Boston Police report arresting a man they say walked up to the front desk at the Hotel Commonwealth around 4:20 a.m., gave staffers a gun and asked if they could dispose of it for him.
Staffers called 911 and not long after officers arrived and were greeted by Keith Mullane, 31, of Canton, who told them he was the guy who'd given hotel staff the gun - a "a Luger 9MM with a defaced serial number" but no bullets or magazine.
They arrested Mullane on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, police say.
The arrest came three days after police ran a no-questions-asked gun drop off at several locations at which participants would not only not be arrested, they would get a $100 gift card. The Hotel Commonwealth was not one of the locations, and the program's hours were only during the daytime, however.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
Magic?
Read the headline & really wanted to know how someone transformed a gun into a staff. And why he’d be arrested for such a wondrous feat.
How?
Maybe his middle name is Moses?
I feel pretty mixed about that
It sounds like he was trying to do the right thing, and was just... extremely confused about how to go about it?
Yeah, more details are needed
Hypothetically, suppose he just found that on the street and turned it in to the hotel. Why is that a crime? Also, why is it "unlawful possession of a firearm"? Is he a convicted felon. Also, how drunk/stoned was he?
You need a license to possess a firearm
If you don’t have one, that is the charge (unlawful possession of a firearm)
Assuming the hotel employee(s) didn't have a LTC
Wouldn't they also be liable for the same charges?
Not if they were in involuntary possession.
Which it looks like they were. It’s not even clear if they touched the gun.
They also alerted the police.
When you find a gun…
…. you let it lie and call the police. It’s a crime scene. You don’t want to become part of it. You just want to see it dealt with safely and intelligently.
Yeah, if I knew how, I'd be tempted to safe it...
...but best to just guard it and wait for someone official to take care of it, and not potentially mess up some evidence.
That's how it reads currently
That's how it reads currently, he seemed pretty confident he was doing the right thing since he stayed for police to arrive and told them what the staff told them. Seems like something that could have been corrected by dropping him at the right place instead of arresting him.
I found a revolver once
I found a revolver stashed behind a fitting room door at the Dedham mall Sears and was also unsure what to do about it. My first impulse was to ensure it was unloaded. But then I realized I didn't know it's recent history and I shouldn't be putting my fingerprints on it because of cops.
I didn't like leaving it there for even a short time where anyone could pick it up but I did. Then I sent the first employee I could find to get store security while I went back to the fitting rooms to make sure nobody else went in there.
It turned out that there had been a customer who was assaulting his partner in the store and had stashed the gun when he realized the cops were on the way.
I'm thinking now that I definitely made the right choice in not picking it up and leaving it with a store employee.
I wonder how many guns were
I wonder how many guns were turned in for the $100. gift cards.
RIP Norm
"[some city, I forget which] has a program where if you turn in a gun, you can get an hour of free therapy. Of course, if you keep the gun, you can get free everything" - Norm Macdonald